Dinosaurs and the Bible

Weekender

Twelve Pointer
Serious question not meant as a troll or gotcha moment:

For those not subscribing to biblical creationism, do you have any type of faith in a higher power?

I know a highly intelligent man who about ten years ago started believing in a higher power. He couldn't reconcile where or who created the matter from which all things come.
 

Zombie

Old Mossy Horns
Serious question not meant as a troll or gotcha moment:

For those not subscribing to biblical creationism, do you have any type of faith in a higher power?

I know a highly intelligent man who about ten years ago started believing in a higher power. He couldn't reconcile where or who created the matter from which all things come.
None really...I dunno what's out there, or how it all started...but with each read through of the bible, I believe it less and less..

Guess I'll find out one day when I die...
 

downeastnc

Old Mossy Horns
unless the subject is global warming,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I mean "climate change",,,,,,,,then no evidence is needed,,,just theory,,,,,,,

OK,,,,just wanted to bring up that not all "scientists" are believable,,,,,,,,,back to dinosaurs,,,,,,,

AGW is real to some level, the real issue is we dont know how much if any out use of fossil fuels are tipping the scales and the science has been politicized so much by both sides that its hard to know what will be the ultimate outcome and thats unfortunate.
 

Greg

Old Mossy Horns
Serious question not meant as a troll or gotcha moment:

For those not subscribing to biblical creationism, do you have any type of faith in a higher power?

I know a highly intelligent man who about ten years ago started believing in a higher power. He couldn't reconcile where or who created the matter from which all things come.
I believe in God and I believe that He created the universe and the matter in it. I believe He created all the marvelous physical laws which govern everything in the universe, and that those laws, acting on that matter, after billions of years, created stars, galaxies, our solar system, and eventually everything that we have now.

I don't necessarily belive a literal interpretation of the Bible in some cases. The universe and earth and God's creatures were created in 7 days? How long was a "day"?
 
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downeastnc

Old Mossy Horns
Serious question not meant as a troll or gotcha moment:

For those not subscribing to biblical creationism, do you have any type of faith in a higher power?

I know a highly intelligent man who about ten years ago started believing in a higher power. He couldn't reconcile where or who created the matter from which all things come.

My grandfather was a preacher and I come from a pretty religious family on my moms side, my dad and his side are catholic but my father is now a non believer....I as raised first in the Salvation Army church in Greenville then in the Church of God in Greenville, I honestly havent been there outside of funeral type activity since my teens though ( I am 43 now) so I have no idea if its the same fire and brimstone pentecostal atmosphere it was when I went....I begin to doubt in my early teens and went agnostic and now I would describe myself as a agnostic with a strong atheist lean. I do wonder how all matter came into existence but the god paradox prohibts me from believing it was a god, basically I dont accept that god could have "always" existed but if it was possible for a god to have always existed then why not the universe in some form or fashion.

I know plenty of intelligent people that believe in god and in no way think that I am more enlightened than believers since I dont believe in their gods.....I just cant see how you can logically infer there is a god simply by not having the answers to certain questions. I accept and understand that I will never have the answers to the questions I have as our knowledge limits us, but to me thats a good thing as the quest for that knowledge is what drives science and learning, questioning things is what and why we learn and sadly there are thise of religion that frown on that or seek to discredit it out of fear that the light science shines on their beliefs will cause doubt.

I will never return to a religion, I dont fear being wrong because I am as sure I am right that there is no god that will judge me as you are that there is......
 

bflee

Guest
I am not a literal believer in the Bible. I beleve it is merely parables created as teaching tools.
I do however believe that there is a higher power. While I know the usual arguments, I just find it hard to believe that everything just came about on its own.
How did life start?
What was the purpose?
What holds the universe in place, is it a giant aqurium on someone's dresser?
Who knows. I would like to believe it is not pointless I guess.

Sent straight from Goshen Swamp, NC
 

Colekira

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Ii
I find it interesting that folks with no belief of a higher power or any belief of the Bible haunt the Chapel section of this forum. Almost as if you guys are seeking to understand something that may be missing in your life. ?????
Not that it's a bad thing in any way as it does give hope that some of the information posted will be used as food for thought and some day maybe one of the non-believers will be changed through some interaction with this forum.
How many of us feel love toward our spouse and kids, something stronger than just animalistic urges and protective instincts? How many of us feel pride toward something that someone else has done or sadness that someone we never knew passed from this world. I think we can all agree that all of us do, even if we don't all agree there's a higher power or the how and why the universe was created, we can also agree that there are things that we will never understand and just have faith that they factually exist as part of our daily lives.
Some things we must simply take on faith, and all the theory and hypothesis in this world can never replace that.
I wasn't trolling, I simply hit "new posts" and see what pops up. I have zero belief in any God, nor do I feel anything is missing in my life. Ironically, most of those close to me who are deeply religious are the ones who feel a void and turn to religion. I don't bash religion, I don't preach atheism, I live and let live. I don't wish to offend anyone or their beliefs, just being honest with what I believe.
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
AGW is real to some level, .


of course,,,,,there is a reason the ice age and interglacial periods happened which is global wide cooling and heating of the earth,,,,,,,just as we are in an interglacial period now,,,,,,my statement wasn't about warming or cooling,,,,,,it was about the fact that there is "quasi-science" out there,,,,,it's not all stoically scientific as you alluded,,,,"
theory make scientific sense and then they test it repeatedly trying to DISPROVE it.....if it is disproven then they refine or expand on the theory until the truth is determined".

your statement is true,,,when pure scientific method is followed,,,but that is not always the case,,,,,in fact there is plenty of examples of faked peer reviews (and thus fake science) just to get things published,,,,,,as an example,,,,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/18/outbreak-of-fake-peer-reviews-widens-as-major-publisher-retracts-64-scientific-papers/

all science isn't driven by an altruistic seeking of "truth" just as all religion is not "provable",,,,,,,
 

downeastnc

Old Mossy Horns
of course,,,,,there is a reason the ice age and interglacial periods happened which is global wide cooling and heating of the earth,,,,,,,just as we are in an interglacial period now,,,,,,my statement wasn't about warming or cooling,,,,,,it was about the fact that there is "quasi-science" out there,,,,,it's not all stoically scientific as you alluded,,,,"

your statement is true,,,when pure scientific method is followed,,,but that is not always the case,,,,,in fact there is plenty of examples of faked peer reviews (and thus fake science) just to get things published,,,,,,as an example,,,,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/18/outbreak-of-fake-peer-reviews-widens-as-major-publisher-retracts-64-scientific-papers/

all science isn't driven by an altruistic seeking of "truth" just as all religion is not "provable",,,,,,,

Totally agree which goes to my point that its a shame AGW has been politicized to death, we are having a impact, there is no way we can release the amount of sequestered CO2 and not. The real issue is how much of the current warming is related to our activities and not the normal cycle....I believe our impact is 25% or less of that but that is still to much and its getting worse not better thanks to India and China. I dont think it will ever reach dramatic levels and cause huge immediate problems ( beyond extremely localized problems like smog in Bejing etc ) because the scale it will happen on is so slow. The sooner we move away from fossil fuels the better for many many reasons.....the problem is the "science" is no longer about the why, how or what IRT to AGW now its about proving the other "side" wrong regardless of the data to support a political angle.

I guess for me true science is about seeking the truth regardless of what we want that science to find, and nowadays it seems the science finds whatever the people paying for the science want it to find and thats sad.

As for religion it bothers me that some religious people try to discredit science solely to protect a dogma that is based in faith to begin with, the anti evolution stuff in particular, many Christians appear very threatened by the implications of evolution.
 
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pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Totally agree which goes to my point that its a shame AGW has been politicized to death, we are having a impact, there is no way we can release the amount of sequestered CO2 and not. The real issue is how much of the current warming is related to our activities and not the normal cycle....I believe our impact is 25% or less of that but that is still to much and its getting worse not better thanks to India and China. I dont think it will ever reach dramatic levels and cause huge immediate problems ( beyond extremely localized problems like smog in Bejing etc ) because the scale it will happen on is so slow. The sooner we move away from fossil fuels the better for many many reasons.....the problem is the "science" is no longer about the why, how or what IRT to AGW now its about proving the other "side" wrong regardless of the data to support a political angle.

I guess for me true science is about seeking the truth regardless of what we want that science to find, and nowadays it seems the science finds whatever the people paying for the science want it to find and thats sad.

As for religion it bothers me that some religious people try to discredit science solely to protect a dogma that is based in faith to begin with, the anti evolution stuff in particular, many Christians appear very threatened by the implications of evolution.

Without China and soon India joining the movement for less emissions, the US is a drop in the bucket. We are cutting our own economy by limiting emissions without the World playing a part. We produce cars/machines here to be sent there and they can't even be cranked up here.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Ii
I wasn't trolling, I simply hit "new posts" and see what pops up. I have zero belief in any God, nor do I feel anything is missing in my life. Ironically, most of those close to me who are deeply religious are the ones who feel a void and turn to religion. I don't bash religion, I don't preach atheism, I live and let live. I don't wish to offend anyone or their beliefs, just being honest with what I believe.
I can still hold out hope...because I do believe and absolutely know, with God, anything is possible.
 

Stick&String

Old Mossy Horns
Now I don't claim to be a scholar on the subject but I have read studies that have shown that the air back then (dinosaur times) was much more oxygenated, up to 50% more. And also that there was a water vapor layer in the atmosphere that created a greenhouse effect over the earth.
I'm still in the "I don't know" camp when it comes to stories like Noah but the collapse of the atmospheric water vapor could have explained their being a lot of rain. Whole earth? Maybe not. Whole earth inhabited by people? Maybe
 

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
Totally agree which goes to my point that its a shame AGW has been politicized to death, we are having a impact, there is no way we can release the amount of sequestered CO2 and not. The real issue is how much of the current warming is related to our activities and not the normal cycle....I believe our impact is 25% or less of that but that is still to much and its getting worse not better thanks to India and China. I dont think it will ever reach dramatic levels and cause huge immediate problems ( beyond extremely localized problems like smog in Bejing etc ) because the scale it will happen on is so slow. The sooner we move away from fossil fuels the better for many many reasons.....the problem is the "science" is no longer about the why, how or what IRT to AGW now its about proving the other "side" wrong regardless of the data to support a political angle.

I guess for me true science is about seeking the truth regardless of what we want that science to find, and nowadays it seems the science finds whatever the people paying for the science want it to find and thats sad.

As for religion it bothers me that some religious people try to discredit science solely to protect a dogma that is based in faith to begin with, the anti evolution stuff in particular, many Christians appear very threatened by the implications of evolution.

Until an evolutionisthat or Big Bang theorist can explain to me where that 1st "particle" or atom came from...then there is nothing to discuss. Creation begins with an eternal Supreme being "God" .... where did the beginning begin otherwise?
 

downeastnc

Old Mossy Horns
Until an evolutionisthat or Big Bang theorist can explain to me where that 1st "particle" or atom came from...then there is nothing to discuss. Creation begins with an eternal Supreme being "God" .... where did the beginning begin otherwise?

Just because we dont know how it began ( or if there was a beginning to begin with) doesnt mean that I just decide to attribute that unknown to a god. I admit I wonder about this stuff a lot, did we actually have a moment when all matter that is currently in our universe not exist? Seems like if that was the case then there would need to be some mechanism for the creation of that matter. However if I decide it was a god, where did god come from? If I decide that god has always existed then why not go further and decide that the universe has always existed. To me there is no logical reason to assume that some all powerful, magical being who has somehow always existed without a creator is somehow the correct answer to the question..or at least more correct than to say that the universe existed in a different dimension and our current version is just the one that resulted in some cosmic event 13-14 billion years ago...in fact a god doing it is the least logical reason IMO of course.
 
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jhwilli2

Eight Pointer
I am not a literal believer in the Bible. I beleve it is merely parables created as teaching tools.
I do however believe that there is a higher power. While I know the usual arguments, I just find it hard to believe that everything just came about on its own.
How did life start?
What was the purpose?
What holds the universe in place, is it a giant aqurium on someone's dresser?
Who knows. I would like to believe it is not pointless I guess.

Sent straight from Goshen Swamp, NC

This.......
 

Tipmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
I believe in God and I believe that He created the universe and the matter in it. I believe He created all the marvelous physical laws which govern everything in the universe, and that those laws, acting on that matter, after billions of years, created stars, galaxies, our solar system, and eventually everything that we have now.

I don't necessarily belive a literal interpretation of the Bible in some cases. The universe and earth and God's creatures were created in 7 days? How long was a "day"?

This sums it up for me too. I believe God exists and that He created the world, the universe and everything in it as well as the laws that bind it all together and make it work. I do not, however, believe in any sort of literal interpretation of the bible. I believe its a collection of stories and historical texts intended to guide our lives, not be taken as a literal instruction manual.

I also happen to believe that God created the Earth and everything on it via evolution and that its quite possible for both creationism and evolution to coexist and both be true.

My belief also diverges with most on here who believe God is inherently good and loves us. I don't think he really cares much about us one way or the other.
 

nchunter

Twelve Pointer
Until an evolutionisthat or Big Bang theorist can explain to me where that 1st "particle" or atom came from...then there is nothing to discuss. Creation begins with an eternal Supreme being "God" .... where did the beginning begin otherwise?

There was a debate awhile ago with the "best" minds alive participating. When pressed on this issue, their best answer was aliens. Life came from aliens. Sure, y'all have faith in that. I know who answers prayer, and it ain't little green men.
 

luckybuck

Old Mossy Horns
It is believed that the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria were once part of the Appalachian mountains...If you cut all of the continents off of a map, you would be amazed at how they fit back into a puzzle of land mass when placed together...
 
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